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Friday, August 8, 2014

Back To School Days - By Kristin Wallace

Me (Kristin Wallace) circa 1st Grade.

It’s only the first full week of August but already I’m starting to see Back-to-School pictures on Facebook. Kids sure do go back so early now! When did that happen? I’m pretty sure we had 3 months off when I was a kid.
But seeing the little (and not so little) kiddies in their brand new school clothes, with smiles blooming as they head off for another year, brings back a lot of memories. On the right is a picture of a very cute first grader (who just happens to be me). This was in Reston, VA and I went to the coolest school called Terraset which was built "under" a hill. They literally dug up a hill, built a school and then covered it with grass. You could even walk on top of the school and look down inside from a window over the library. It was solar powered, making it one of the first "green" schools I'm sure. So anyway...that's me. Not sure what is up with those pants (eek)! Oh, 70's you always got dressed in the dark, didn't you?

I remember taking that list of school supplies to the store and hunting down everything you needed amidst hundreds of other crazed parents and kids. Pens, pencils, pencil sharpeners, erasers, protractors, Trapper Keepers, lunch boxes (who had a cool lunch box?). Getting new textbooks that we promptly covered with brown paper bags, which we then “decorated”. In some schools they don’t even have textbooks anymore. All the kids have iPads. I guess it does save their backs from having to cart around so many books, but you can’t cover an iPad with a paper bag and draw flowers or “Kristin (hearts) ____” on them.

The wonder of getting your first locker. That usually doesn’t happen until Junior High. Or it used to be called Junior High. Now I think it’s Middle School most places. Where I went to school, we were in elementary until 5th grade and then for 6th grade some County official thought it would be a great idea to send ALL THE 6TH GRADERS IN THE ENTIRE COUNTY to one school. Can you imagine? A WHOLE school of 11/12 year olds in one place? That’s like the premise of a horror film, right? "Children of the 6th Grade"?

So tell me your favorite “Back-to-School” memories? Did any of you do the brown paper bag covers? What kinds of traditions do you have with your kids now?

Kristin Wallace writes inspirational romance and women's fiction filled with "love, laughter and a leap of faith". She is the author of the Covington Falls Chronicles, romantic comedies set in a quirky Southern town with a character all its own. MARRY ME (Book 1); ACTING UP (Book 2); IMAGINE THAT (Book 3). You can visit her website at: Kristin Wallace Author

17 comments:

First day of school has lots of happy memories for me as a student, a parent, and a teacher. It's always exciting to get started, get to know people -- lay down the rules. I'll never forget my first day teaching Jr. High science and social studies at Solomon Elementary School. The evaporative cooler quit working. In Arizona. In August. Thought I was going to die.

My mom always bought us a new pair of shoes and school clothes - which were always for fall and inappropriate for the first few weeks of California school where it's in the 90s. Just took Mr. Curtis to Staples to buy supplies for his new school year. As a teacher, he always buys supplies for those kids who can't afford them.

I always got a new pair of saddle oxfords to wear to school because my feet were so narrow. That was the only kind of shoes I could wear, and I grew to hate them. I could hardly contain my excitement the year I finally didn't have to wear saddle oxfords.

You make school days sound fun. I didn't enjoy school much. I was so pleased to leave. College was much better. In the UK, kids don't go back to school until September. But they break for summer in mid July. I think they get 6 weeks off. It used to seem like forever when I was a kid. Passes in the blink of an eye now.